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Olivia

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Olivia

1951

1h 36m

Drama

LGBTQ+

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

A girl falls in love with her finishing school headmistress, who feels the same but tries to suppress her desires.

Drew Gregory

Autostraddle

Olivia is one of the best lesbian films of all time.

Sep 10, 2021

Full Review

Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

It brings to rich emotional life the swirl of influence and passion inside an all-girls boarding school buzzing with sentimental education around its grand central staircase.

Aug 29, 2019

Full Review

John DeFore

The Hollywood Reporter

Feuillere holds the screen in all kinds of ways, conveying the psychology of a woman who understands the effect she has on impressionable girls and wants to wield it for their betterment.

Aug 15, 2019

Full Review

Amelie Lasker

FF2 Media

Olivia is a particularly beautiful watch. Within lavish costumes, bedrooms, and ballrooms, the story is surprisingly intimate.

Dec 28, 2020

Full Review

Lauren Humphries-Brooks

Citizen Dame

It's a study in female relationships, their complexity, and the centralizing of female desire, couched in the form of a complex gothic melodrama that prizes women above all else.

Jun 4, 2020

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

Audry's approach [in this film] was primarily mannered-nearly suffocatingly so-occasionally bordering on the naturalistic.

Rated: 6/10

Jun 3, 2020

Full Review

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Vitor O

A provocative and very well made movie, one that Hollywood wouldn't dare to produce at that time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/16/25

Full Review

s r

Studying the complexities of female relationships in a girl's school. A nice piece of French culture and drama. It was well made. It has since been embraced by lesbian movement in its depictions of women and male patriarchy. Saw it on TCM.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It's an age-old story of a student with a terrible crush on her teacher. Only this student is Olivia at an aristocratic female boarding school in France in the 19th Century and the headmistress is elegant, elusive, and ambivalent in returning Olivia's affection. Shot in luminescent black and white and suffused with female energy, insecurities, affections, affectations, and brilliance, it includes a lovely Christmas scene where ladies dressed as gentlemen dance with ladies. Johnny C. sez check out this daring movie for its time.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

juliette c

i loved the beautiful costumes, setting, and cinematography, as well as the subject matter and performances.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/24/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Z Bm Until a. C. R.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/21/19

Full Review

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Jacqueline Audry

Director

Edwige Feuillère

Mlle. Julie

Simone Simon

Mlle. Cara

Yvonne de Bray

Victoire

Suzanne Dehelly

Mlle. Dubois

Danièle Delorme

Une ancienne élève

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Synopsis

A girl falls in love with her finishing school headmistress, who feels the same but tries to suppress her desires.

Director: Jacqueline Audry
Producer: Jacqueline Audry, Jean Paris
Screenwriter: Pierre Laroche
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: Canadian French
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Aug 16, 2019
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 2, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.3K
Runtime: 1h 36m

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